Suspect in Olympics bombing arrested

By Caroline Overington, Herald Correspondent in New York and agenciesJune 2 2003

Eric Robert Rudolph . . . found behind milk crates.

The seven-year hunt for the Atlanta Olympics bomber may have come to an end, after police arrested the chief suspect hiding behind milk crates in a remote hunting village in North Carolina.

Eric Robert Rudolph, 36, had apparently been living rough in the Appalachian mountains for several years, and appears to have survived by killing wildlife and taking food from rubbish bins in the dead of night.

He went on the run in 1998, after police named him as the chief suspect in the Olympics case and three other bomb attacks that in total killed two people and injured 150.

Atlanta's Centennial Park was packed during the first week of the 1996 Olympics when a backpack, packed with nails, exploded, killing Alice Hawthorne, 44.

After the Olympics there were two more bombings in Atlanta - on an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub - and one at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.");document.write("

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Rudolph's utility truck was seen leaving the site of the Birmingham attack in January 1998 and was tracked to Murphy, a village of 1700 people in a remote part of North Carolina. Rudolph had apparently vanished into the Nantahala National Forest.

Federal agents established a command centre and searched the mountains for months. But the "Top Ten Wanted" fugitive was not seen until late in 1998, when he apparently came out of the hills looking for food. Police embarked on another search, with no result. In March 2000 the FBI closed its search headquarters.

Then, at 4.30am on Saturday, a young police officer, Jeff Postell, was on patrol in an alley behind some local businesses when he came across a man apparently scavenging through bins. The man took off, but the officer found him hiding behind some milk crates. He did not resist arrest.

Rudolph is believed to be a member of Christian Identity, an anti-gay, anti-abortion, white supremacist group.